Patrick Comerford
We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and the week began with the Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XVIII).
Before the day begins, I am taking some quiet time early this morning to give thanks, and for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:
1, today’s Gospel reading;
2, a short reflection;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;
4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.
Luke 12: 49-53 (NRSVA):
[Jesus said:] 49 ‘I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50 I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! 51 Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! 52 From now on, five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; 53 they will be divided:
father against son
and son against father,
mother against daughter
and daughter against mother,
mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law
and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.’
Today’s Reflection:
Once again we are confronted with a Gospel reading this morning that is difficult, with its images of division and strife, shattering all our expectations of Gospel values that emphasise domestic bliss and harmony.
I cannot resist finding irony in the coincidence that the day before we mark United Nations Day and the beginning of UN Disarmament Week, the Gospel reading is a passage in which Jesus says: ‘Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!’ (verse 51).
In today’s Gospel reading (Luke 12: 49-53), we hear warnings of fire on earth (verse 49), and of families and households divided and fighting each other to the death (verses 52-53). The verses that follow include images of people being blown about by the storms and tempests of the day (verses 54-56).
They are images that might have inspired ‘hellfire and brimstone’ sermons. But they have inspired too great creative and literary minds in the English language, from William Shakespeare and William Blake to TS Eliot in the Four Quartets:
This is the death of earth.
Water and fire succeed
The town, the pasture and the weed.
Water and fire deride
The sacrifice that we denied.
Water and fire shall rot
The marred foundations we forgot,
Of sanctuary and choir.
This is the death of water and fire. ( – Little Gidding)
If we dismiss these apocalyptic images because they have been hijacked by fundamentalist extremists for their own religious and political ideals, then we miss an opportunity to allow our values to challenge those ways we may be allowing our lives to drift along without questioning or examination.
Fire and water were a challenge for me a few years ago during a visit to Longford. One afternoon, as part of a church history ‘field trip’ from the Church of Ireland Theological Institute, three of us went to see the restoration work at Saint Mel’s Cathedral in Longford.
The cathedral was destroyed in a blazing fire early on Christmas morning in 2009, but was restored and rebuilt so beautifully that it has been voted Ireland’s favourite building.
Outside, it still looks like a grey, classical revival, fortress-style cathedral. But inside it is filled with light and joy. It has risen from the ashes, and its restoration is truly a story of redemption and resurrection.
As we walked into the cathedral, I was overwhelmed by the beautiful baptismal font that has been placed at the main entrance door to the cathedral.
The font was sculpted by Tom Glendon and the blue mosaic work by Laura O’Hagan is a creative representation of the Water of Life.
This font is a challenge to all who enter the church and is placed exactly where it should be, for Baptism is entry to the Church.
Baptism is not a naming ceremony, it is not about my individual experience, it is never a private event. It is a public event, and it incorporates me into the unity, the community of the Body of Christ.
In the Gospel reading today (Luke 12: 49-53), Christ challenges us with three themes: Fire, Baptism and Division.
In the Bible, fire can represent the presence of God – think of the pillar of fire in the wilderness (Exodus 13: 17-22) or the tongues of flame at Pentecost (Acts 2: 1-4).
It can represent judgment (see Revelation 20: 7-10), and it can represent purification – the prophets Zachariah (13: 9) and Malachi (3: 2-3) speak of the refiner’s fire in which God purifies his people, as a refiner purifies silver by fire.
At the Presentation in the Temple (Luke 2: 22-38), old Simeon foresees how the Christ Child ‘is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inward thoughts of many will be revealed – and a sword will pierce your own soul too’ (verses 34-35).
The sword that pierces the soul of the Virgin Mary, the sword that has killed the prophets, the sword the divides families, is a reminder that Christ, who embodies the presence of God, simultaneously judges and purifies.
In the New Testament, Baptism represents both judgment and purification and Saint John the Baptist connects it with fire (Luke 3: 16-17).
In this Gospel reading, however, Christ is referring not to the baptism he brings but to the baptism he receives. He not only brings the fire of judgment and purification, but he bears it himself also.
The Kingdom of God he proclaims is governed:
• not by might but by forgiveness (think of forgiveness in the Lord’s Prayer, Luke 11: 4);
• not by fear but by courage (‘be not afraid’ in Luke 1: 13, 30, 2: 10, 5: 11, 8: 50, 12: 4, 7, 32);
• not by power but by humility (see Magnificat, Luke 1: 46-55).
But it is easy to be lured by the temptations of wealth, status, and power rather than the promises that come with our Baptism.
Today’s Prayers (Thursday 23 October 2025):
My prayers this morning include prayers that the prayers Pope Leo and King Charles share in Rome later today lead to closer links between the Roman Catholic Church and the member churches of the Anglican Communion, mutual respect, recognition and co-operation, so that dialogoue may eventually bring hope for multual inter-communion, perhaps even in my own lifetime.
The theme this week (19 to 25 October) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Advancing Theological Education for Young Women in Africa’ (pp 48-49). This theme was introduced on Sunday with reflections from Esmeralda (Essie) Pato, Chair of the Communion-Wide Advisory Group for USPG; she is based in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (Thursday 23 October 2025) invites us to pray:
Lord, thank you for USPG’s commitment to investing in theological education. Bless all those who are supported through these scholarships, that they may grow in knowledge and faith to serve your kingdom.
The Collect:
Almighty and everlasting God,
increase in us your gift of faith
that, forsaking what lies behind
and reaching out to that which is before,
we may run the way of your commandments
and win the crown of everlasting joy;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Post Communion Prayer:
We praise and thank you, O Christ, for this sacred feast:
for here we receive you,
here the memory of your passion is renewed,
here our minds are filled with grace,
and here a pledge of future glory is given,
when we shall feast at that table where you reign
with all your saints for ever.
Additional Collect:
God, our judge and saviour,
teach us to be open to your truth
and to trust in your love,
that we may live each day
with confidence in the salvation which is given
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Yesterday’s Reflections
Continued Tomorrow
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
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